England Falter
England had this ODI series in the palm of their hands and they ceremoniously blew it. The first and in my opinion most important thing to note is that this isn't a reflection of the talent in the side, so much as their maturity. South Africa are a good side, but the truth is that they just have one or two talented and experienced individuals that were able to come to the fore in the big moments in a way that England's youngsters were not. And there are plenty of positives for England to take from this series, as well as plenty of areas for improvement.
Starting with the positives, there have been some really encouraging displays in the batting order. Joe Root as ever was the standout at times, and he consistently delivers the goods for England at every level of cricket. As disappointing as it is that he only made 27 runs in this match, his overall series and his overall career make it impossible to criticize him as a batsman. Likewise, Alex Hales has had a terrific series, scoring at least a half century in every ODI. Admittedly, his conversion rate to big scores could really have been better, but in this match especially he anchored the innings and did a wonderful job when the wickets tumbled around him. Jos Buttler is another man who showed some real skill in this series, and he was at the heart of England's first two victories, which is why it has been disappointing to see him fall away as the pressure mounted on him and his side. Buttler has done well when the team have done well, he hasn't been able to take the game on his shoulders single-handedly, which shows how he struggles under pressure.
And in terms of batting, there have been several major disappointments. Eoin Morgan for me is the standout failure of the series. As a captain and one of the most experienced members of this side, he has to lead from the front, but he failed time and again in this series. At no point did he manage to support England's middle order, and 64 runs at an average of less than 13 and a high score of 29 is pitiful. I've been similarly disappointed in young Roy at the top of the order, who has completely fallen apart in the back end of this series, and offered almost no support to Hales in the three ODIs that England lost. Ben Stokes has had patchy form with the bat, but his bowling in general has been good enough to save him from criticism and I'm tempted to say the same thing about Moeen, but the truth is, when the pressure has been on, only Hales and Root have been able to step up. England's middle and lower middle order have been embarrassing for a bunch of players this talented.
With the ball, I'm a huge fan of Reece Topley and he's easily been England's best bowler this series with ten wickets to his name, three more on Sunday as he alone looked to drag England back into the series. The spinners have done an adequate job as well, Rashid and Moeen have the lowest economy rates of England's bowlers and have taken wickets, and Broad and Woakes weren't really around long enough to have a huge impact. The real bowling disappointments for me were David Willey and Chris Jordan, who took one wicket a piece in their three ODIs and conceded a lot of runs. Jordan in particular was incredibly leaky, going at over eight an over at this level is unacceptable. But in truth, in the 4th and 5th ODIs, when the pressure was on, it was England's talented middle order that really let their side down, and no bowling unit is going to do a great job defending less than 270 twice.
For South Africa, it was their usual suspects who excelled. Quentin De Kock, Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers were all exceptional all series and dragged their side into matches that they otherwise might have lost with Topley applying the squeeze. De Kock in particular was sensational, his two hundreds making him the batsman in either team with the highest average and he was instrumental in securing victory in the 3rd Test. But it was their bowlers who did the real damage, with Rabada, Abbott and Tahir the main contenders. Rabada especially is turning into a sensational young bowler with a lot of pace and a lot of talent and certainly one to keep an eye on as he looks to replace the aging Dale Steyn as South Africa's premier bowler in the long run, maybe over the next five years or even ten.
Overall, both sides will see a lot of potential coming out of this series, but some definite room for improvement as well.
The Champions League Is Back
I'd be lying if I pretended that I didn't still get a chill running down my spine at the sound of that music. Tonight sees Zenit St Petersburg go to Benfica in a clash that looks to be relatively closely matched between two sides who are underperforming in their domestic leagues but still there or there abouts, and who were reasonably impressive at the group stage.But of course, it also includes the huge tie between Chelsea and PSG. The first leg is in Paris and to be frank, if Chelsea can get even take a one goal deficit with an away goal to the Bridge then they'll be thanking their lucky stars. This is a very odd game to try and call. On paper, it should be a walkover, PSG are so far ahead in Ligue 1 that they're turning it into an embarrassing joke, making a mockery of the whole division. Whereas Chelsea are making themselves a joke with a frankly humiliating performance in the Premier League this season. But league positions aside, it's impossible to put these two teams on an even keel. The Premier League is a much tougher league that Ligue 1 and under Hiddink, Chelsea are a different prospect and still capable of putting in a sterling performance on their day against almost anyone. They still have the same players that romped home to the league title last year, and that went out to this PSG side only on away goals.
Trying to predict this game then is very, very difficult. I personally don't rate PSG that highly, I think that the French Ligue is a substandard league and that winning so easily against poor sides doesn't give them a good preparation for this sort of game, although it will help their confidence and fitness levels. Certainly, Chelsea have the players and the tactics to make this a very different prospect to anything that they've faced in Ligue 1.
However, although I don't think PSG are quite in the top four or five teams in Europe just yet, I do think that they should have enough to see off this Chelsea side, especially in Paris. As much as Chelsea have improved under Hiddink, they've not made a surge up the league table, far from it and their performances haven't been dazzling either, except against rank average sides. This one for me should end something along the lines of 3-1 PSG, who I think will win this tie reasonably easily although Chelsea will make a game of it and then the French side will snatch a draw at the Bridge to cruise through.
There's not a lot happening with regard to Wednesday's games either. Gent vs Wolfsburg should be a decent game but nothing to get excited about and I don't really know enough about either side to predict which way it will go, although you have to suspect that Wolfsburg have the superior firepower and Real Madrid should in theory sweep aside Roma, although it's Real Madrid and they are prone to bouts of implosion in big games recently, especially without Gareth Bale.
All in all, an intriguing round of fixtures, but nothing massively exciting.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Cipriani is back at Wasps. Yesterday's news.
- Neymar's assets frozen. Oops.
- "Father thinks pitches cause cancer". Less ridiculous than it sounds.
- Beth Tweddle is out of hospital. Get well soon.
- Leamington FC snatched a 2-1 win away at Hungerford.
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